of St Benoit-sur-Loire, Lisieux, and Evreux are good 14th-century
examples. But little Gothic work is now to be seen in the churches
of this country. It is to the museums we have to look for traces of
the old Gothic carvers. The two retables in Dijon Museum, the work
of Jacques de Baerze (1301), a sculptor of Flanders, who carved for
Philippe le Hardi, duke of Burgundy, are masterpieces of design and
workmanship. The tracery is of the very finest, chiefly gilt on backgrounds
of diapered gesso (Plate I. fig 1).
1380–1520.—Towards the end of the 14th century carvers gave up natural foliage treatment to a great extent, and took to more conventional forms (Plate III fig. 4). The oak and the maple no longer inspired the designer, but the vine was constantly employed. A very large amount of 15th century work remains to us, but the briefest reference only can be made to some of the more beautiful examples that help to make this period so great.
The rood screen, that wonderful feature of the medieval church, was now universal. It consisted of a tall screen of usually about 11 ft. high, on the top of which rested a loft, i.e. a platform about 6 ft. in width guarded on either side by a gallery and either on the top or in front of that, facing the nave, The rood screen. was placed the rood, i.e. a large crucifix with figures of St Mary and St John on either side. This rood screen sometimes spanned the church in one continuous length (Leeds, Kent), but often filled in the aisle and chancel arches in three separate divisions (Church Handborough, Oxon.). The loft was as a rule approached by a winding stair built in the thickness of the aisle wall. The lower part of the screen itself was solid panelled to a height of about 3 ft. 6 in. and the upper part of this panelling was filled in with tracery (Carbrook, Norfolk), while the remaining flat surfaces of the panels were often pictured with saints on a background of delicate gesso diaper (Southwold, Suffolk). Towards the end of this period the employment of figures became less common as a means of decoration, and the panels were sometimes filled entirely with carved foliage (Swimbridge, Devon). The upper part of the rood screen consisted of open arches with the heads filled in with pierced tracery, often enriched with crockets (Scarning, Norfolk), embattled transoms (Castle Hedingham, Essex), or floriated cusps (Eye, Suffolk). The mullions were constantly carved with foliage (Cheddar, Somerset), pinnacles (Causton, Norfolk), angels (Pilton, Devon), or decorated with canopy work in gesso (Southwold). But the feature of these beautiful screens was the loft with its gallery and vaulting. The loft floor rested on the top of the rood screen and was usually balanced and kept in position by means of a groined vaulting (Harberton, Devon) or a cove (Eddington, Somerset). The finest examples of vaulting are to be seen in Devon (Plate IV fig 10). The bosses at the intersections of the ribs and the carved tracery of the screen at Honiton stand unrivalled. Many screens still possess the beam which formed the edge of the loft floor and on which the gallery rested. It was here that the medieval rood-screen carver gave most play to his fancy, and carved the finest designs in foliage to be seen throughout the whole Gothic period. Although these massed moulds, crests and bands have the appearance of being carved out of one log, they were in practice invariably built up in parts, much of the foliage, &c., being pierced and placed in hollow moulds in order to increase the shadow. As a rule the arrangement consisted of a crest running along the top, with a smaller one depending from the lower edge, and three bands of foliage and vine between them (Feniton, Devon). The designs of vine leaves at Kenton (Plate IV. fig. 10), Bow and Dartmouth, all in Devon, illustrate three very beautiful treatments of this plant. At Swimbridge, Devon, there is a very elaborate combination; the usual plain beads which separate the bands are carved with twisted foliage also. At Abbots Kerswell and other places in the district round Totnes the carvers introduced birds in the foliage with the best effect. The variety of cresting used is very great. That at Winchcomb, Gloucester, consists of dragons combined with vine leaves and foliage. It illustrates how Gothic carvers sometimes repeated their patterns in as mechanical a way as the worst workmen of the present time. Little can be said of the galleries, so few remain to us. They were nearly all pulled down when the order to destroy the roods was issued in 1548. That they were decorated with carved saints under niches (Llananno, Wales), or painted figures (Strencham, Worcester), is certain from the examples that have survived the Reformation. At Atherington, Devon, the gallery front is decorated with the royal coat of arms, other heraldic devices, and with prayers. The Breton screen at St Fiacre-le-Faouet is a wonderful example of French work of this time, but does not compare with the best English examples. Its flamboyant lines and its small tracery never obtained any foothold in England, though screens carved in this way (Colebrook, Devon) are sometimes to be found.
The rood was sometimes of such dimensions as to require some support in addition to the gallery on which it rested. A carved beam was used from which a chain connected the rood itself. At Cullompton, Devon, such a beam still exists, and is carved with foliage; an open cresting ornaments the under side and two angels support the ends. This particular rood stood on a base of rocks, skulls and bones, carved out of two solid logs averaging 18 in. wide and 21 in. high, and together measuring 15 ft. 6 in. long; there are round holes along the top which were probably used for lights.
No country in Europe possesses roofs to equal those of England in the 15th century. The great roof of Westminster Hall (see Roof) remains to the present day without an equal. In Norfolk and Suffolk roofs abound of the hammer-beam class; that at Woolpit, Suffolk, is of the first rank. Each bracket is carved with Roofs. strongly designed foliage, the end of every beam terminates in an angel carrying a shield, and the purlins are crested, while each truss is supported by a canopied niche (containing a figure) resting on an angel corbel. Here, too, as at Ipswich and many other churches, there is a row of angels with outspread wings under the wall-plate. This idea of angels in the roof is a very beautiful one, and the effect was of course much enhanced by the colouring. The roof at St Nicholas, King’s Lynn, is a magnificent example of tie-beam construction. The trusses are filled in with tracery at the sides and the centres more or less open, and the beams, which are crested and embattled, contain a row of angels on either side. In Devon, Cullompton possesses a very fine semicircular ceiling supported at intervals by ribs pierced with carving. Each compartment is divided up into small square panels, crossed by diagonal ribs of cresting, while every joint is ornamented with a boss carved in the decorative way peculiar to the Gothic craftsman. The nave roof of Manchester cathedral is nearly flat, and is also divided up into small compartments and bossed; the beams are supported by carved brackets resting on corbels with angels at each base.
In the 15th century, choir stalls with their canopies continued to
increase in magnificence. Manchester cathedral (middle of 15th
century) and Henry VII.’s chapel in Westminster Abbey
(early 16th) are good examples of the fashion of massing
pinnacles and canopies; a custom which hardly
Choir
stalls.
compares with the more simple beauty of the 14th-century work of Ely
cathedral. The stalls of Amiens cathedral were perhaps the finest
in the world at the beginning of the 16th century. The cresting
employed, though common on the Continent, is of a kind hardly
known in England, consisting as it does of arches springing from
arches, and decorated with crockets and finials. The tabernacle
work over the end seats, with its pinnacles and flying buttresses,
stretches up towards the roof in tapering lines of the utmost delicacy.
The choir stalls (the work of Jorg Syrlin, 1468) in Ulm cathedral are
among the finest produced by the German carver (Plate III. fig. 4).
The front panels are carved with foliage of splendid decorative
boldness, strength and character; the stall ends were carved with foliage
and sculpture along the top edge, as was sometimes the case in
Bavaria and France as well as Germany.
In early times the choir alone possessed seats, the nave being left
bare. Gradually benches were introduced, and during the 15th
century became universal. The “poppy-head” form of
ornament now reached perfection and was constantly used
for seats other than those of the choir. The name refers
Bench
ends.
to the carved finial which is so often used to complete the top of the
bench end and is peculiarly English in character. In Devon and
Cornwall it is rarely met with (Ilsington, Devon). In Somerset it is
more common, while in the eastern counties thousands of examples
remain. The quite simple fleur-de-lys form of poppy-head, suitable
for the village, is seen in perfection at Trunch, Norfolk, and the very
elaborate form when the poppy-head springs from a crocketed circle
filled in with sculpture, at St Nicholas, King's Lynn. Often the
foliage contained a face (Cley, Norfolk), or the poppy-head consisted
of figures or birds only (Thurston, Suffolk) or a figure standing on a
dragon (Great Brincton, Northampton); occasionally the traditional
form was departed from and the finial carved like a lemon in outline
(Bury St Edmunds) or a diamond (Tirley, Glos.). In Denmark an
ornament in the form of a large circle sometimes takes the place of
the English poppy-head. In the Copenhagen Museum there is a
set of bench ends of the 15th century with such a decoration carved
with coats of arms, interlacing strap-work, &c. But the old
15th-century bench end did not depend entirely on the poppy-head for its
embellishment. The side was constantly enriched with elaborate
tracery (Dennington, Norfolk) or with tracery and domestic scenes
(North Cadbury, Somerset), or would consist of a mass of sculpture in
perspective, with canopy work, buttresses and sculptured niches,
while the top of the bench end would be crowned with figures carved
in the round, of the finest craftsmanship. Such work at Amiens
cathedral is a marvel alike of conception, design and execution. In
the Kunstgewerbe Museum, Berlin, some beautiful stall ends are to
be seen. Out of a dragon's mouth grows a conventional tree arranged
and balanced in excellent proportion. On another stall end a tree is
carved growing out of the mouth of a fool. This custom of making
foliage grow out of the mouth or eyes is hardly defensible, and was
by no means confined to any country or time. We have plenty of
Renaissance examples of the same treatment.
Before the 15th century preaching had not become a regular institution in England, and pulpits were not so common. However, the value of the sermon began to be appreciated from the use to which the Lollards and other sects put this method of teaching doctrine, and pulpits became a necessity. A very Pulpits. beautiful one exists at Kenton, Devon. It is. as is generally the case, octagonal, and stands on a foot. Each angle is carved with an upright column of foliage between pinnacles, and the panels, which are painted with saints, are enriched with carved canopies and foliage; it is, however, much restored. The pulpit at Trull, Somerset, is noted for its fine figure carving. A large figure standing under a canopy fills each of the panelled sides, while many other smaller
